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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

It was a long Little Rock Technology Park Authority board meeting tonight, as the board took up issues of eminent domain and heard from the attorney for a credit union that has been excluded from a lending proposal to the park.

Little Rock lawyer Richard Mays, who owns a building at 415 Main St. that the Little Rock Technology Park Authority wants to buy, is apparently not satisfied with the appraised value — between $470,000 and $530,000 — that the authority's appraiser has put on his property, and has questions whether the park serves a public purpose, board member Dickson Flake told the authority board today.

Because the state enabling legislation creating the authority gives it the right of eminent domain, Flake proposed that the board ask its lawyer to draft a complaint to be ready in case the board has to exercise that right to obtain Mays' property.

Board member Darrin Williams, however, expressed concern that he was being asked to vote on using eminent domain without knowing exactly how far apart the park and Mays are on price (Flake is handling negotiations), and said he was worried how the board would fare in court in pressing a case for eminent domain, since the statute is so "narrowly drawn." He cited a decision that said the city could not use eminent domain to obtain property for the industrial park at the Little Rock Port, and also wondered if the park could lease the property rather than buy it.

The board's attorney, Scott Schallhorn, said the legislation was specific in designating the tech park's right, "so we have that going for us." To the leasing issue, Schallhorn said that, from a business perspective, it would make little sense, because of the money it would take to adapt the building to the tech park's use, and board chairman Dr. Mary Good said, in response to a question from member Kevin Zaffaroni, that no accommodation could be made to allow Mays to stay in the building. Flake corrected Williams on the court decision on the industrial park, saying the port authority resold the property it acquired, but the park would hold on to its property.

Flake said Mays had not yet sought his own appraisal, though he has known that the board wants to buy his building for some time, but added that "no one could have been more cooperative" and that the building has been the home of Mays' law firm "for 30 plus years and he hates to move."

Williams was persistent in his questions,saying he wanted to know how far off the city and Mays were before considering eminent domain, but board member Jay Chesshir said that should the matter go to court, it would be best to get the tech park's public purpose status now rather than down the line.

In the end, the board agreed that if no price has been agreed on by the end of the month, it will hold a special meeting Nov. 2 to look at the documents generated by the negotiations and vote on whether to go forward in filing a complaint of eminent domain.

Downing said the board illegally considered the consortium's initial proposal because it was submitted past the board's own July 31 deadline. The board should have made a public notice that it was extending the deadline at that point, Downing said. Downing also objected to the fact that the proposal was not "sealed" and that the board allowed Centennial Bank to revise the proposal, dropping AFCU and adding two other banks, but did not allow the AFCU to submit a separate proposal. He called the process "fundamentally flawed." Good said she thought the board would take Downing's argument under consideration.

The credit union was dropped because of objections by the Arkansas Bankers Association, which said the credit union gets tax breaks that banks do not.

Zaffaroni said he didn't understand Downing's complaint about the proposal not being sealed, pointing out that the proposal was discussed in an open meeting, as required by the state Freedom of Information Act. Downing said the FOI has an exception for the consideration of proposals.

"Is the heart of your issue — are you attempting to get us in the middle of your dirty laundry with the banks?" Zaffaroni asked. Shortly thereafter, Good said, "This is a discussion we should not have," and the board adjourned.

More by Leslie Newell Peacock

Contrary to rumor, Live Life Chill, the bar/restaurant in the erstwhile Revolution Taco and Tequila Lounge space at the corner of Cantrell and President Clinton Avenue, is not closed. Service manager Lindsey McFadin called the Times this afternoon to say a rumor the bar had closed was killing business; by 3 p.m., no one had been in. The Times, too, had heard the rumor from a number of sources. What has changed, McFadin said, is that the bar is now only open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

M2 Gallery, located for 12 years in the Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center, has made the move to 1300 Main St. in the hopping SoMa neighborhood and will hold its Grand (Re)opening from 5-8 p.m. Nov. 30.

Under a settlement agreement filed in federal court today, Entergy Arkansas has agreed to quit burning coal at its White Bluff plant by the end of 2028, its Independence plant by the end of 2030 and to shutter its remaining operating plant at Lake Catherine by the end of 2027.

June 2018 is the expected publication date for a novel collaboration by former President Bill Clinton and crime writer James Patterson.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has denied a new permit for the C&H Hog Farms' concentrated animal feeding operation near Mount Judea (Newton County). This is a big and somewhat surprising victory for critics who have viewed C&H's large-scale pig farm and the pig waste it generates as an existential threat to the Buffalo National River.

Little Rock police have identified two women found dead of gunshot wounds in an SUV parked next to a vacant trailer in a mobile home park at 11500 Chicot Road.

Slideshows

Arkansas vs Ole Miss at War Memorial stadium in Little Rock, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. After leading for much of the game, Arkansas lost 37-33 when Ole Miss scored the game winning Touchdown with less that 2 minutes left.